Countywide : State of Emergency Expires on Spraying

The Orange County Board of Supervisors, faced with a deadlock on a routine proclamation, allowed the state of emergency on malathion spraying to expire Tuesday, exposing the county to possible claims arising from the Medfly eradication program.

Under county law, the supervisors are required to renew a proclamation every two weeks to extend a state of emergency. That vote was scheduled Tuesday, but Supervisor Gaddi H. Vasquez was on his way to Montevideo, Uruguay, as part of a six-member delegation representing the United States at the inauguration of President-elect Luis Lacalle.

County Counsel Adrian Kuyper said Tuesday that without the declaration, the county would lose the immunity provided by the state of emergency. He would not discuss specifics but added that without the immunity, all liability claims would have to be considered.

Board Chairman Don R. Roth said a new proclamation declaring the Medfly emergency will be back up for a vote on Tuesday. In the past, the proclamation has passed on a 3-2 vote, with Roth, Vasquez and Supervisor Thomas F. Riley voting in favor and Supervisors Harriett M. Wieder and Roger R. Stanton voting against it.

Since Tuesday’s vote would have ended in a tie, Roth decided to delete the item from the agenda, leaving the county without an emergency declaration for one week. He announced the deletion at Tuesday’s meeting. There was no debate.

County Agricultural Commissioner James D. Harnett said he asked the state to delay its next scheduled spraying Monday night in the Brea, La Habra and Fullerton area, but officials said the spraying schedule was too busy to change it.

Spraying is also scheduled in the Garden Grove, Santa Ana, Orange, Westminster, Stanton, Huntington Beach and Cypress areas.

One staff member who has studied the issue said an example of liability faced by the county would be a helicopter crashing into a home. Although the state has full responsibility for the spraying program, the county could be named in a suit resulting from accidents because it lacked the absolute immunity provided by the state of emergency.